FROM THE PRESIDENT
HARVARD POLITICAL REVIEW
Animal Farm
A Nonpartisan Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Est. 1969—Vol. L, No. 2
EDITORIAL BOARD PRESIDENT: Russell Reed PUBLISHER: Wyatt Hurt MANAGING EDITOR: Chimaoge Ibenwuku ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR: Katie Weiner ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR: Jessica Boutchie STAFF DIRECTOR: Alexis Mealey SENIOR COVERS EDITOR: Sarah Shamoon ASSOCIATE COVERS EDITOR: Lauren Anderson SENIOR U.S. EDITOR: Amir Siraj ASSOCIATE U.S. EDITOR: Ilana Cohen ASSOCIATE U.S. EDITOR: Clay Oxford SENIOR WORLD EDITOR: Keshav Rastogi ASSOCIATE WORLD EDITOR: Kelsey Chen ASSOCIATE WORLD EDITOR: Corbin Duncan SENIOR CULTURE EDITOR: Savitri Fouda ASSOCIATE CULTURE EDITOR: Marian Bothner SENIOR CAMPUS EDITOR: Will Imbrie-Moore ASSOCIATE CAMPUS EDITOR: May Wang INTERVIEWS EDITOR: Gordon Kamer BUSINESS MANAGER: Cate Brock ASSOCIATE BUSINESS MANAGER: Cathy Yin SENIOR DESIGN EDITOR: Matthew Rossi ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR: Madeleine LaPuerta ASSOCIATE DESIGN EDITOR: Trina Lilja SENIOR MULTIMEDIA EDITOR: Jacob Heberle ASSOCIATE MULTIMEDIA EDITOR: Nicolas Medrano SENIOR TECH DIRECTOR: Jason Huang ASSOCIATE TECH DIRECTOR: Natea Eshetu Bashada ASSOCIATE TECH DIRECTOR: Max Snyder COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR: Alexandra Diggs
STAFF Alisha Ukani, Allison Piper, Amy Danoff, Amy Wang, Annelisa Kingsbury Lee, Audrey Sheehy, Bridger Gordon, Byron Hurlbut, Campbell Erickson , Carter Nakamoto, Chloe Lemmel-Hay, Chris Sun, Clara Bates, Colton Carpenter, Connor Brown, Connor Schoen, Daniel Friedman, David Gutierrez, Devon Black, DJ Kranchalk, Eliot Harrison, Elton Lossner, Emily Malpass, Erica Newman-Corre, Esha Chaudhuri, Ethan Schultz, Gabrielle Landry, Graham Walter, Hadley DeBello, Hope Kudo, Hossam Mabed, Ifedayo Famojuro, Isa Flores-Jones, Jake McIntyre, James Blanchfield, Jamie Bikales, Jamie Weisenberg, Jay Gopalan, Jennifer Horowitz, Johannes Lang, Jon Riege, Jose Larios, Jacob Kern, Joseph Minatel, Josh Berry, Katherine Ho, Kendall Rideout, Kendrick Foster, Kevin Bi, Lainey Newman, Lauren Fadiman, Lindsey Bouldin, Lu Shao, Manuel Abecasis, Matthew Hatfield, Matthew Shaw, Max Snyder, Meena Venkataramanan, Melissa Gayton, Mfundo Radebe, Michael Montella, Michael Wornow, Mikael Tessema, Mimi Alphonsus, Natalie Dabkowski, Nick Danby, Nikole Naloy, Noah Knopf, Noah Redlich, Pawel Rybacki, Peter Wright, Peyton Dunham, Rob Capodilupo, Roger Cawdette, , Ryan Chung, Samantha Frenkel-Popell, Sandy Koenig, Sanika Mahajan, Sarah Tisdall, Satish Wasti, Sebastian Reyes, Sophie Dicara, Tamara Shamir, Tom Slack, Trina Lilja, Vanessa Ruales, Victor Agbafe, Will Finigan, William Boggs, Yash Kumbhat, Yashaar Hafizka, Yuri-Grace Ohashi, Zachary Buttenwieser, Zehan Zhou SENIOR WRITERS: Akshaya Annapragada, Alicia Zhang, Andrew Zucker, Anirudh Suresh, Ari Berman, Beverly Brown, Chad Borgman, Cindy Jung, Darwin Peng, Derek Paulhus, Drew Pendergrass, Henry Brooks, Jacob Link, Marty Berger, Nicolas Yan, Perry Abdulkadir, Perry Arrasmith, Sal DeFrancesco, Sam Kessler
ADVISORY BOARD Jonathan Alter Richard L. Berke E.J. Dionne, Jr. Ron Fournier
Walter Isaacson Whitney Patton Maralee Schwartz
2 HARVARD POLITICAL REVIEW SUMMER 2019
“H
uman exceptionalism” is a term that refers to the apparent division between human beings — Homo sapiens — and the rest of the animal kingdom. People point to various traits that make us distinctly human, from abstract cognitive processing to environmental manipulation to complex communication. What these arguments overlook, however, is the far larger number of characteristics that make humans and nonhuman animals alike. At its core, it is a philosophical debate as much as a scientific one, but neither side can deny that, different or the same, the existences of humans and nonhuman animals remain deeply intertwined. Animals — and even more so, animal products — are part of everyday human life. According to the Department of Agriculture, the average American consumes over 200 pounds of meat and poultry each year, and despite serious declines in fur consumption, leather products remain commonplace even in the country’s most liberal enclaves. Around two thirds of Americans also own pets, and even as most industries declined dramatically during the recession, the pet care industry reached new heights. These trends vary greatly across the globe, but while treatment differs, all belief systems and governments must grapple with nonhuman inhabitants. Beyond the local, trends in the human-animal relationship can also have global consequences. There have been five mass planetary extinctions in the last half-billion years; the most recent, which marked the end of the dinosaurs’ reign, was 65 million years ago. But today, biologists believe we are undergoing the sixth mass extinction — and this time, the cause is human activity. According to the World Wildlife Fund, at least 1,000 species now go extinct every year, and one of the leading causes of this loss of biodiversity is deforestation for agricultural purposes. To many scientists, the demise of other animal species reads as a bellwether of the human consequences of climate change that are only just beginning; biodiversity is, after all, one of the main indicators of a healthy ecosystem. After generations of growing estrangement
from one another, it appears that the fates of humans and nonhuman animals may be converging once more. In the second issue published by the HPR’s 51st editorial board, three writers explore various aspects of this contentious human-animal relationship in different contexts: in our food systems, on our campuses, and even in our homes. In “Campus Eats,” Grace Greason uncovers the Harvard University Dining Services’ long journey toward food sustainability, investigating the continued presence of red meat in daily dining options. Joseph Winters explores the relationship between animals and food from a very different angle: the luxury pet food industry, which he finds to be surprisingly prominent in “Kosher Kibble.” Putting pets into a broader discourse, Eleonore Evans considers whether pet ownership may increase environmental awareness in “Man’s Best Friend.” As always, these articles are joined by a breadth of cutting-edge pieces within our recurring sections, covering issues ranging from the role of mental health specialists in determining presidential wellness to the racist legacy of the War on Drugs in the legal marijuana industry. As Daniel Brickhill recalls in “Change and Tradition,” the HPR was founded 50 years ago in 1969, a product of the radical and history-making activism that defined Harvard that year. Today, we find ourselves on a campus that has been much quieter since then. Given the state of American politics and students’ lingering dissatisfaction with the status quo in the United States and at Harvard, it seems that activism may well be on the rise again in Cambridge today. As a constitutionally nonpartisan magazine, the HPR remains dedicated to representing the great variety of student perspectives on both sides of the picket line. We invite you to follow along in this magazine and on our website, and on behalf of all of us at the HPR, I hope you enjoy our second edition!
Russell Reed President